If we escape punishment for our vices, why should we complain if we are not rewarded for our virtues?

Collins’s aphorism challenges the expectation that the moral universe reliably dispenses deserts. If people often commit wrongs without suffering proportionate consequences, it is inconsistent to feel aggrieved when good conduct goes unrewarded. The sentence presses a stoic, anti-sentimental view of ethics: virtue should not be treated as a transaction with fate, society, or God. It also exposes a psychological double standard—our readiness to accept “luck” when it benefits us (escaping punishment) versus our resentment when luck withholds benefits (lack of reward). The implied counsel is to practice virtue for its own sake, without entitlement.